Let's Gather Round the Campfire
by I Admit I'm A Disney Whore
Summary: Some of the Elders decide to go on a camping trip. lots of marshmallow throwing, friends, picking on Kevin and harmless fun


"When the kids opened the door, they saw…" Arnold smiled. The glow of the fire in front of him gave his face a more eerie look to it as he went on with his ghost story. The other elders were on the edge of their seats, but Kevin. Kevin was too busy reading something else. Poptarts was just about ready to fall off the log he was sitting on. Arnold looked at each one of the elders before saying, "Mr. Henderson's skeleton!"

They all deflated, now upset that he was getting them hyped up for nothing. Poptarts slid off the log onto the ground and pulled his knees up to his chest.

"That wasn't scary," he complained.

"What are you talking about? Skeletons are way scary!" Arnold exclaimed.

"Wanna know what's really scary?" James asked, "Kevin reading scriptures on a no church related camping trip."

The other elders laughed in their agreement to James. Kevin didn't hear the comment or the elders laughing. He was engulfed in his own little world with his book and using his boyfriend as a pillow. When you're deep into a book, everything around you gets turned off and you can't hear a thing.

Poptarts smiled and grabbed the bag of marshmallows near him and picked out two. James saw what his boyfriend was scheming and grabbed the bag from him, picking out a handful. The other elders followed suit with what he was planning and began to pass the bag around until it was empty and all the elders had some marshmallows in their hands.

Connor was trying so hard not to laugh and disrupt Kevin's readings. The two were happily lounging around on their sleeping bags and blankets. Kevin was under a blanket and Connor under a separate blanket. His legs were crossed Indian style as Kevin's head lay calmly in his lap. He was just content in his own little world as Connor ran his fingers through his hair, playing with it out of boredom. Kevin adjusted his place on Connor's lap and never ripped his eyes from the book.

The elders waited for their leaders OK to throw the marshmallows. He finally nodded, "FIRE!"

At once all the marshmallows that the elders were holding in their hands was now on Connor and Kevin, but mostly Kevin. He finally snapped out of his world and put his book down on his chest and glared at the elders.

"Do you all mind? What happened to the 'ghost stories' you were telling?" he used one hand to do the air quotes around 'ghost stories'.

"We told you specifically, no church camping trip," Poptarts crossed his arms over his chest.

Connor picked up a marshmallow on Kevin's chest and popped it in his mouth with a smile.

"I know, this isn't scripture reading," Kevin explained.

"It sure looks like the Book of Mormon to me," Arnold sided with Poptarts for once.

"All my books look like that," Kevin went back to his book, but after he found a marshmallow on his blanket and put it in his mouth.

"Why?"

"I take them to church with me," he answered nonchalantly, eyes on the book.

"So when you're reading scriptures…" James was confused.

"I'm not," Kevin put the book down once more, "I put fake covers on all of my books so I can take them wherever I go that's church related so I don't get yelled at for reading 'inappropriate' material for an elder. So, I get copies of my books about the size of the bible and pretend I'm reading scriptures."

"What are you reading then?" Arnold asked with a huge grin.

"_A Clockwork Orange_," he answered calmly.

"That's really not church appropriate," Poptarts laughed.

"Exactly," he went back to his book.

"Didn't you read that… a week ago?" Connor asked and grabbed another marshmallow from his own blanket.

"Yup," he picked it back up again and went back to reading.

"What's _A Clockwork Orange_ anyway?" Arnold asked.

"You never heard of it?" James asked Arnold, "You're into that weird geeky stuff, and I'm surprised you don't know _Clockwork Orange_."

Kevin was already back to his book world. Connor lifted his head off his lap and stood. Kevin still lay on the blankets, comfy. After grabbing another bag of marshmallows from he and Kevin's tent, Connor joined the others around the fire. He grabbed a stick and put a few marshmallows at the end of it and sticking it over the fire.

"_A Clockwork Orange_ is messed up," Connor began, "I read it by accident when I was looking for one of his other books. Lots of confusing slang, brainwashing and rape. It was a very… interesting read."

"Why are you reading that then?" Poptarts asked Kevin.

"Why not?" Kevin didn't even bother to look up, "It's a good book. An instant classic."

"He doesn't read anything passed the 1980's," Connor explained for Kevin, checking his marshmallows before sliding one off the end and popping it in his mouth, "he only reads classic lit."

"Classic lit? Like…?"

"Poe, Wells, Hugo, Doyle, Shakespeare, Fitzgerald, Hawthorne and so on and so forth," Kevin answered, turning the page in his book then popping another marshmallow into his mouth that he picked up from his lap.

"Please tell me those are authors," James hoped.

"Bingo!" Kevin pointed in his general direction and put another marshmallow in his mouth.

"Pft, reading," Arnold laughed, "No one can read _that_ much."

"He can," Connor pointed to Kevin and ate the other two marshmallows on the end of the stick, "He's read through those same books a million times, he could probably recite the page he's reading right now."

"Could you?" Poptarts faced Kevin.

"Probably," Kevin turned the page again.

"Will you?" he asked hopefully.

"Nope."

"Why?" Arnold asked.

"Because I won't. Go back to your ghost stories or whatever."

"Why'd you even come if you're just gonna sit over there by yourself in your own books?"

Kevin pointed to Connor, "He made me."

Connor threw another marshmallow at him, "Oh, shush your mouth."

"_Death cannot stop true love_," Kevin looked at Connor with a smile, "_It can only delay it for a while_."

Connor smiled, but still threw another marshmallow at him, "Stop it!"

"I don't get it," Arnold looked between Connor and Kevin.

"He's quoting _The Princess Bride_," Connor explained, "He does that a lot to me and its annoying!"

"You love it."

"I do," he smiled to him.

Kevin smirked and went back to his book. The others decided it would be fun to semi bother Kevin as he read, so they broke into campfire songs. Campfire songs were the same thing as butcher Disney songs. He was annoyed to no extent but soon got them out of his head when he went back to his messed up book.

The wonderful scent of burning wood and pine was in the air. Camping in the fall was always the best time of the year to go out. Hoodies and sweats, flannels, coffee and hot chocolate and best friends and boyfriends.

"James, pass over the hot chocolate," Poptarts asked with a sweet smile.

He passed over the thermos to his boyfriend with a smile. The thermos was warm to the touch, so it wasn't too hot. He opened the canister and took a quick swig without using the cup-lid.

"You'll burn your mouth again, Chris!" James warned.

He smiled to him, "it's fine, honestly."

"You sure?" he was over reacting again.

"Yes," he chuckled and offered the thermos to James.

He took it and took a quick swig. Nodding approvingly, "It's not a bad."

"I told you. See? You overreact too much," Poptarts nudged his arm lightly.

"That sounds familiar," Kevin chimed in, not looking up.

"Shut up, Kevin!" Connor threw another marshmallow on him.

"Would you quit throwing things at me?" he picked it up and threw it back at Connor, but missed and hit Arnold instead.

"Stop reading and get over here then," Arnold laughed and put the marshmallow in his mouth.

The others agreed. Kevin waved them off; he was happily content with reading his book.

Connor crossed his arms, "What are you going to do when you're done your book? It's not a long book."

"I brought Gatsby."

They all groaned. Connor stood from the log and went into their tent again. He found his other "bible" in his backpack. He brought it back out to the other guys.

"Found it," Connor smiled to Kevin who was now glaring at him.

He handed it to Poptarts and Connor laughed.

"We're not going to burn it, if that's what you're worried about."

"Jesus, how long have you had this book, Kev?" Poptart paged through the tattered book. He made sure none of the pages fell out of the book.

"Too long," he was still mad, "Can I have that back please?"  
"Nope. Not until we leave on Sunday," Connor crossed his arms, "Till then, Arnold keeps it in his tent."

"I swear if there's a page missing-"

"It'll be fine, buddy!" Arnold took the book carefully in his hands and put it in his backpack.

Kevin let out a huge sigh and put his book down and placed the book mark in the back of the book in no page in particular.

"You done now?"

"Finished," Kevin rolled his eyes, now sad with his next book being taken by his Connor and Arnold.

"Great, now you have no choice but to actually join us," Connor smiled.

Kevin stood and cracked his back, and marshmallows fell onto the blankets he stood on. He gave the guys a 'seriously?' look. They couldn't help but laugh at him. He rolled his eyes again and sat on the log next to Connor. He put his head on Kevin's shoulder. Kevin put his arm around Connor.

"You'll never find the book now," Arnold said as he returned to the fire.

"You better," Kevin snapped.

Connor slapped his arm.

"I will, I promise!" he insisted.

He nodded.

"Just relax, Kev," Connor insisted, patted his shoulder, "Loosen up and have some fun, babe."

Connor smiled a devilish smile. Kevin saw it, "Oh gosh. I know that look."

Poptarts and James smiled to each other. They all knew the Connor look. He had something stirring in his mind. He pulled out his phone from his sweat pants pocket and went onto the internet.

"Huh, great service out here," he hit the youtube app and typed a video in.

"Whutchya doin, Con?" Poptarts asked with a smile.

James put his arms around Poptarts with a smile.

Connor's smile widened as he tapped the screen and hit the volume all the way up. Kevin's face slowly fell from a smile to a horrific expression.

"No! You promised you'd NEVER show that!" he exclaimed.

"Show what?" the other elders gathered closely around Connor's iPhone.

Kevin put the hood of his hoodie up and buried his face in his hands out of embarrassment. He was going to kill his brother for putting the video on the internet.

"Is this…you, Kevin?" Poptarts asked with a smirk.

He nodded.

"Oh, it gets better!" Connor exclaims, "He starts singing too!"

The others laughed and scooted closer to the small screen. The video was fuzzy with bad quality written all over it, but the audio was good. Without a doubt, it was Kevin singing "Oh, What a Night" from Jersey Boys on stage. The elders burst into laughter when he started to sing. Kevin pulled his hood farther over his head and drew the hoodie strings, shutting him out from the elders around him.

"Kevin has talent!" James laughed.

"At least he doesn't dance," Poptarts agreed with a giggle.

"Can I have my book back?" Kevin asked.

"No way," Arnold laughed.

Kevin sighed and pushed himself backwards onto the ground. It was much more comfy on the ground than the log. While on the ground, he fixed the hoodie strings and looked up at the sky. There was not a single dark spot in the sky, it was filled with stars. Everything was so clear; more so than in Provo.

"You guys gotta see this!" Kevin exclaimed with a smile.

"Not now, Kevin!" James laughed, "We're making fun of you."

Kevin rolled his eyes and checked the area next to him on the ground. Nothing was there but some patches of grass and leaves. He smirked and pulled Connor's hoodie and yanked him on the ground next to him. Connor yelped out in his sudden change of positions.

"Ow!" he slapped Kevin on the arm, "Why'd you do that?!"

He pointed up with a smile, "Just look!"

Connor looked up where Kevin told him too. He gasped, "OMGosh…"

"I told you," Kevin smiled to him.

He nodded, mouth wide open, "You guys gotta see this!"

The others shrugged to each other and took the smart approach and went to their pile of blankets and sleeping bags on the ground and looked up. Connor sat up and then stood, offering his hand to Kevin. He smiled and took it and the two went back to their blanket pile that was still covered in marshmallows.

All of them were looking up with big smiles on their faces, the wonder of the night time sky sure was amazing. Once in a while, one of them would point up and name a constellation or a star. If one got it wrong, or thought they got it wrong, the two would argue until someone finally said they were both idiots and dropped the conversation.

Hours passed and everyone retired into their tents to go to bed. Poptarts and James were sleeping next to each other, in separate sleeping bags. Poptarts' head rested on James' shoulder as he cuddled a stuffed teddy bear.

Arnold, alone in his tent, hugged his light up Starship Enterprise plushie that Connor and Kevin got him for his birthday that year. He snored very loudly, which was another reason why they all put him in his own tent. Arnold was free to roll around as much as he wanted and snore as loud as he wanted.

Kevin and Connor were both snuggled up next to each other, both of their sleeping bags unzipped. One was under them and the other was on top of them. They were cuddled up cozily in the small tent.

"Kevin?" Connor asked in the dark.

"Yes?"

He snuggled up to Kevin to keep warm, "Did you have fun tonight?"

"I did," he kissed the top of his head, "Thank you for dragging me here."

Connor smiled and closed his eyes. He was about to fall asleep when Kevin spoke one last time.

"I'm still mad at you for that video though."

"Get over it, you can sing. G'night, Kevin. I love you," and with that, Connor fell asleep.

Kevin couldn't help but kiss his head again after he rolled his eyes, "Love you too, Con."


End file.
